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PowerActions integrates the vSphere Web Client and PowerCLI to provide complex automation solutions from within the standard vSphere management client.

PowerActions is deployed as a plugin for the vSphere Web Client and will allow you to execute PowerCLI commands and scripts in a vSphere Web Client integrated Powershell console.

Furthermore, administrators will be able to enhance the native WebClient capabilities with actions and reports backed by PowerCLI scripts persisted on the vSphere Web Client. Have you ever wanted to “Right Click” an object in the web client and run a PowerCLI script? Now you can!

For example I as an Administrator will be able to define a new action for the VM objects presented in the Web client, describe/back this action with a PowerCLI script, save it in a script repository within the Web client and later re-use the newly defined action straight from the VM object context (right click) menu.

Or, I as an Administrator can create a PowerCLI script that reports all VMs within a Data Center that have snapshots over 30 days old, save it in a script repository within the Web client and later execute this report straight from the Datacenter object context menu.

Or better yet, why not share your pre-written scripts with the rest of the vSphere admins in your environment by simply adjusting them to the correct format and adding them to the shared script folder.

The following is a list of prerequisites needed for using PowerActions, please ensure you meet these requirements as other versions may not have been tested and cannot be guaranteed to work.

VMware vSphere 5.1, 5.5, 6.0

PowerShell Host Machine

Windows 2003 Server or newer/Vista or newer

.NET framework 4.0 or .Net framework 4.5

PowerShell V1, V2, V3 or V4

PowerCLI version supporting your current VMware vSphere version

Administrative privileges (registering a service with VMware Lookup Service and creating a user for SSO) are required for installation, but not for use of the product.

Prior to installation, ensure that the PowerShell Host machine and the machine hosting the VMware Lookup Service are synced via the same time source, otherwise cryptic error messages may appear.

If you already have PowerActions installed, in order to upgrade, you must first uninstall the current version, and then do a fresh install of the new one. 'My Scripts' will be preserved for all users. In order to assuredly preserve shared scripts, do a backup of the 'C:\ProgramData\VMware\myNGC\Scripts\' folder and note that in the 1.5 version this location has changed to
'C:\ProgramData\VMware\PowerActions\Scripts\'

Please see the downloadable PDF documentation for detailed steps on how to install this plugin.